It’s with deep sadness that I’m informing you that Appraisal Advisor (www.AppraisalAdvisor.com) is ceasing operations on February 1st.

We began with a simple goal of providing transparency to the industry regarding client quality, and tools for appraisers to collect from non-paying clients. The transparency benefited all parties: appraisers, good AMC clients, lenders, and regulators.

Unfortunately, the lifeblood of Appraisal Advisor – appraisers submitting client reviews – fell prey to the age-old “80/20” rule. Over 79% of our many thousands of ASC-verified appraiser members submitted zero reviews, while only 3% submitted more than 5 reviews.

That was far below what we needed to support a revenue model of non-appraisers paying to access and advertise on the site. And since appraisers had already spoken loudly that they wouldn’t pay directly for it either, that cut off the only two sources of funding for Appraisal Advisor.

Those customers who paid us for various services will be issued a complete refund. We thank you for your support.

We also thank those of you who submitted reviews, who spread the word about our service, and who used our UCF system to collect overdue bills from slow-paying clients – and who then recommended it to others. We still believe in what we built, and know it made a difference for many struggling to make ends meet.

As nearly all of you know, my father founded a la mode, and I plan to work alongside him there in various software capacities in the future. I look forward to seeing many of you in that context over the coming years.

Thank you again to our supporters, and best wishes in your own business in the coming year.

You had a great idea. I suggest that you sell Appraiser Advisor to Alamode or another appraisal software competitor. You own a great “value added service” that someone could integrate and offer to appraisers for free to help them pickup market share.